Birthday Season Starts

This week was pretty great. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl. Go Hawks! I had some good runs, I got lots of stuff done, my nephew had a birthday, I volunteered at the Renton Historical society and talked with my Ukranians, and then I got sick. But until then it was great!

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 60 books. It’s a little high. The library says I have 38 books checked out. That’s getting closer to reasonable. 

Books Completed  February 6 - February 12

What Stalks the Deep, T. Kingfisher. Cloudy pick and a reread for me. The horror stuff really landed for me, especially the dream with the horse.

Pokémon Journeys Vol 3, Machito Gomi. Talbot Hill recommended. The fight scenes are opaque but my TV show experience pulls me through.

The Only Black Girls In Town, Brandi Colbert. Lots of fun, with enjoyable drama and some cool family stuff.

The Haunted Mask, R.L. Stine. The girl’s problem was worse than her annoyance level, so I felt sympathy.

A Pho Love Story, Loan Le. This was sweet and fun and made me hungry.

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne. I like this story but the plot is definitely of the “and then something else happened.” It was very suited for Minecraft playing, especially after we found the seed that had a replica of the island.

Let’s Get Invisible!, R.L. Stine. This was the first time I enjoyed one as a horror book.

How to Be a Wallflower, Eloisa James. I expect fun from this author and she delivers. I like the business sense of both, and I liked how the guy was willing to pivot to a new goal, and the sex was well done.

Flor Fights Back, Joy Michael Ellison. This is a Girls Survive story about a transgender girl who runs off to be homeless in New York City and is sheltered by the people who become instrumental in the Stonewall Eiots and she discovers she should be true to herself and stand up. I found it ahistorical in her terminology and deeply troubling as an inspiration; most kids who run away from home end like that end up in terrible situations. I get it supposed to be a kids eye view of the event, but yuck.

Books Started

What Stalks the Deep, T. Kingfisher. Cloudy pick.

The Haunted Mask, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps.

A Pho Love Story, Loan Le. I think the Romance Club recommended this one.

How To Help a Hungry Werewolf, Charlotte Stein. Last year I needed a “How To” book.

Let’s Get Invisible!, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps book.

How to Be a Wallflower, Eloisa James. For Romance book club.

The Teacher of Nomad Land, Daniel Nayeri. Iranian kidlit during WWII.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Short Story Collection, Volume 2, Miya Kazuki. I hope these keep coming forever.

Heads You Lose, R.L. Stine. Another Goosebumps.

Bookmarks Moved

Promise the Night, Michaela MacColl

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Josephine Against the Sea, Shakira’s Bourne

Self Love Poetry, Melody Godfred

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews 

Calypso, Oliver K Langmead  

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                         

                                                                                 The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

                                                                                 Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

                                                                         Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

                                                                        Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles                       

                                                      Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

                                             The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.                             

                                       So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole                     

                                 Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                     Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

         The Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

      The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry

      Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

   Ariel, Sylvia Plath. Poetry book from my shelves

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Knuffle Bunny, Mo Willems. Reread but it holds up.

Three Little Vikings, Bethan Wollvin. The Even the Trunchbull people are right; this is a lot of fun. 

The Circus Comes to the Village, Yutaka Kobayashi. Since I know what happens in the village, this was very sad.

Kiki and Jax: The Life Changing Magic of Friendship, Marie Kondo. Dull but sweet, but vastly entertaining to me.

The Most Beautiful Village In the World, Yutaka Kobayashi. Heartbreaking.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Laundry and fabric stains is our current concern.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Hopkins is hard core.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Good chapters about things to do after and while reading the books.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Sunward
• Library Book: War Games
• Friend Book Club: The Rom-Commers
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Witches of Dubious Origin
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Slow Gods
• Hugo Reading: The Raven Scholar
• Talbot Hill School: The War I Finally Won
• Scintillation Book Club: Weave a Circle around
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Ones We’re Meant to Find
• Torches and Pitchfork Book: Elinor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
• Romance Book Club: Brothers and Bros
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Boys of Riverside

Groundhogs Day Again

 

I got to perform another marriage! A kid I knew when she was a child suddenly decided she wanted to marry the father of the baby she was about to have, so we met up for brunch and I solemnly married them. Alexander also attended because I had to take him to work afterward. This was months ago, and  so far all three of them are doing well. 

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 54 books. It’s right. The library says I have 52 books checked out but nothing overdue, which at least isn’t higher than last week. 

Books Completed January 30 - February 5

A Little Too Familiar, Lish McBride. This exceeded expectations. I expected a fun romance with cozy supernatural types, and I got that. He’s a werewolf with back trauma, she’s an animal witch working as a vet. He’s an alpha wolf who protests his pack (aka the found family sharing a house) by cleaning a lot and packing lunches for people. That is such a beautiful piece of wish fulfillment and I adore it. And then there was a cool action sequence when his last trauma shows up to do some more trauma. It all worked well.

Star-Crossed, Barbara Dee. This was a bit of a romance, which usually makes me recoil in kidlit books, but it worked this time. I liked how the kid dealt with the play and figuring out her emotions while also starting to understand complexities in other relationships. 

3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi. This short piece does a lot of fun Scalzi things. The narrator is snarky and smart and doesn't tell you everything until it’s time for a twist and a reveal.

Set On You, Amy Lea. This romance had a dreaded third act breakup that really didn’t work for me; it relied on a sudden stupid ball to be juggled back and forth. And the first act also didn’t sell me; he was being a jerk because he liked her, but that isn’t cute in grade school and it’s downright creepy in adults. Even spending the second act as a Perfect Boyfriend didn’t redeem him in my eyes,

Planet of the Lawn Gnomes, R.L. Stine. I find most of the protagonists in these to be unpleasant, but this kid bordered on psychopathic. I mean, there was a guy who kicked a dog and this kid was less appealing that that guy. So I liked the penultimate twist and then was disappointed when there was a last page twist that mitigated it.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki. I like the extra stories and I’m delighted to read about the recording of the CDs.

Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, R. L. Stine. This kid was not unpleasant! So refreshing. The book was barely horror, but the final chapters scraped up some excitement. And of course a final twist.

The Blood Guard, Carter Roy.  A fun kidlit book with a boy discovering his family’s big secret (well, both of them) and heading off to save the world. I think I want to read the sequels.

Thea and the Mischief Makers, Tracy Badua. Hey, I finished this ages ago! I liked how the kids had to work both athletically and socially to deal with the problem, and how no one thought the consequences were proportionate, which seems very appropriate for a kids book. My kids often did things they thought were small potatoes but that turned out to be big deals.

The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore. Hey I finished this donkey’s years ago! I had to struggle to finish it; I found the two time lines made me forget to care about the one I wasn’t in, and the solutions at the end seemed kinda unlikely. I was probably just being cranky.

Books Started

Star-Crossed, Barbara Dee. I had it on a list.

Planet of the Lawn Gnomes, R.L. Stine. Another Goosebumps.

Set On You, Amy Lea. Also on a list.

Josephine Against the Sea, Shakira’s Bourne. From the next shelf of the Renton Highlands library.

The Blood Guard, Carter Roy. An author I met at WorldCon.

Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, R. L. Stine. I think this is Goosebumps #34.

Pokémon Journeys Vol 3, Machito Gomi. Talbot Hill recommended.

The Only Black Girls In Town, Brandi Colbert. A good author. 

Bookmarks Moved

Promise the Night, Michaela MacColl

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

Self Love Poetry, Melody Godfred

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Flor Fights Back, Joy Michael Ellison

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                                 Calypso, Oliver K Langmead       

                                                                                 The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

                                                                                 Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

                                                                         Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

                                                                        Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles                       

                                                      Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

                                             The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.  

                                       An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

                                       So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole                     

                                 Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                     Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

         The Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

      The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry

      Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

   Ariel, Sylvia Plath. Poetry book from my shelves

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. Laundry and fabric stains is our current concern.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Hopkins is hard core.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Good chapters about things to do after and while reading the books.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Shifter and Shadow
• Library Book: The Gilded Crown
• Friend Book Club: The Rom-Comers
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Penric’s Demon
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Slow Gods
• Hugo Reading: The Raven Scholar
• Talbot Hill School: The War I Finally Won
• Scintillation Book Club: Weave a Circle around
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Ones We’re Meant to Find
• Torches and Pitchfork Book: Elinor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
• Romance Book Club: Award Winner
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Demon of Unrest

Book Clubs Are Fun

Big news in Seattle — Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl! Also someone hit my car very gently while turning into my subdivision, which was a bit scary. Otherwise I cooked some and ran some.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 57 books, which is higher than the truth but I’m trying to mark things as done. The library thinks I have 52 books checked out but nothing overdue.

Books Completed January 23 - 29

The Martian, Andy Weir. This was a fun reread, and it’s the sort of book that pairs well with the movie, which I also watched. It was interesting to see what worked for both kinds of art, the suspenseful pages that would have been boring on screen, of the vivid impact of movie events and explosions. Both are good entertainment. foolscap bookclub was pleased.

Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, Ashley Herring Blake. I liked the exploration of the girls feelings as things change and she encounters kindred spirits.

The Book That Wouldn't Burn, Mark Lawrence. This was fun but it had many pages. So many pages.

Invasion of the Body Squeezers, Part 1, R.L. Stine. This was not fun but I read it.

Books Started

Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, Ashley Herring Blake. Maybe this was a Cybils nominee?

Invasion of the Body Squeezers, Part 1, R.L. Stine. Still working through this series.

A Little Too Familiar, Lish McBride. I think this was for the romance book group.

Self Love Poetry, Melody Godfred. For Torches and Pitchforks kicking off our Making Things Better year.

.

Bookmarks Moved

Promise the Night, Michaela MacColl

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

Flor Fights Back, Joy Michael Ellison

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                              Calypso, Oliver K Langmead       

                                                                              The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

                                                                              Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

                                                                      Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

                                                                     Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles                       

                                                   Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

                                          The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.  

                                    An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

                                    So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole                     

                              Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                              The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

                  Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

      The Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

   The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry

   Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

Thea and the Mischief Makers, Tracy Badua. Cybils nominee I started last year.

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Ariel, Sylvia Plath. Poetry book from my shelves

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

None.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to ventilation and heating! Apparently 61 degrees Fahrenheit is a good temperature for healthy adults.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Hopkins is hard core.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Good chapters about things to do after and while reading the books.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Shirter and Shadow
• Library Book: The Gilded Crown
• Friend Book Club: Devil in Winter
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Penric’s Demon
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Slow Gods
• Hugo Reading: The Raven Scholar
• Talbot Hill School: The War I Finally Won
• Scintillation Book Club: Half-Built Garden
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Ones We’re Meant to Find
• Torches and Pitchfork Book: Elinor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
• Romance Book Club: Award Winner
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Demon of Unrest

Any Resolutions?

This was a lovely week for bookclubs. We spent the weekend at Seaside, where one member has moved, and watched our traditional movie: Bullet Train in honor of the host’s trip to Japan. She agreed that it was a near identical depiction of their holiday. Her husband made us delicious omelets, my sister and I enjoyed listening to Venetia and Silver Borne on the drive, and it was all a great time. 

Then I came home and got my new crown put in, which wasn’t as much fun. But I also enjoyed several more book clubs, including the library club’s reading of Orbital, which was an adventurous leap for many of them.

Goodreads thinks I am currently reading 64 books, which is higher than the truth but I’m trying to mark things as done. The library thinks I have 50 books checked out. One is overdue, but I’m almost done. Also, I found the lost book in my car, so that was a relief!

Books Completed January 16 - 23

Ghosted, Amanda Quain. I spent too much time trying to see how this matched with Northhanger Abbey, which the jacket promised me it was a rewriting of. If it had just been a cute high school story of a dysfunctional family and a first love it would have been fine, but the distraction of trying to see the parallels pulled it down.

Venetia, Georgette Heyer. The audience version was nice, but we noticed the deletions in this abridged version; sometimes they made the scenes rather nonsensical. I now see there is a complete version in the library so maybe I’ll grab that next road trip.

Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, R.L. Stine. Goosebumps book. Grump. The kids were annoying and dumb, the dad was a complete idiot, the dangerous snow was so goofy I could even be mildly alarmed. Not my favorite.

Education For Empire, Clif Stratton. Well, this was depressing. Colonialism involves a lot of racism and murder, but doing it to kids is grim reading.

Danger on Peaks: Poems, Gary Snyder. I liked these sparse poems, especially the ones about the mountains.

The Lotteries Plus One, Emma Donahue. Cosy story about a queer blended family in a big house and how they make room from a cranky grandfather.

Silver Borne, Patricia Briggs. A delicious reread. I liked watching Mercy spin deception by telling the truth very carefully.

I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, Jason Parkin. This was a bit long for what it did, and it was a bit too proud of what it thought it was doing with all the internet craziness stuff. The ending was a bit of a letdown.

Books Started

Silver Borne, Patricia Briggs. Because she’s always worth rereading.

The Lotteries Plus One, Emma Donahue. Kidlit that looks cosy.

Flor Fights Back, Joy Michael Ellison. A Girls Survive book.

Promise the Night, Michaela MacColl. Kidlit about Beryl Markham, the aviator.

I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom, Jason Parkin. Sword & Laser pick.

Ariel, Sylvia Plath. Poetry book from my shelves.

Bookmarks Moved

Thea and the Mischief Makers, Tracy Badua. Cybils nominee I started last year.

The Martian, Andy Weir

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson

Gold Dust, Catherine Asaro

Ascendance of a Bookworm, Fanbook 7, Miya Kazuki

Blood at the Root, LaDarrion Williams

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell 

Inventing the Renaissance, Ada Palmer

The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

One Jump Ahead, Mark L Von Name

Bookmarks Languished

I have given up on a few of these, actually. 

                                                                           Calypso, Oliver K Langmead       

                                                                           The Hunger and the Dusk, G. Willow Wilson

                                                                           Speculative Whiteness, Jordan S. Carroll

                                                                   Bourne Supremacy, Robert Ludlum

                                                                  Death in the Spires, K.J. Charles                       

                                                Read Dangerously, Azar Nifisi

                                       The Last Witchfinder, James K. Morrow. Scintillation book club.  

                                 An Exchange of Hostages, Susan R. Matthews   

                                 So Let Them Burn, Kamilah Cole                     

                           Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

                           The Library of Borrowed Hearts, Lucy Gilmore

                        3 Days, 9 Months, 27 Years, John Scalzi

               Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers, Kevin Ford

   The Book That Wouldnt Burn, Mark Lawrence

   The Gilded Crown, Marianne Gordon

The Morgaine Chronicles, C.J. Cherry

Fair Trade, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Champion of Fate, Kendare Blake

Picture Books, Poems, and Short Stories

Help Me Find My Hamster, Brook Hartman. Hilarious.

Wanda Hears the Stars, Amy S. Hansen. It’s cool how this scientist works with her strengths to make new discoveries, and how she handled her blindness.

Dream For the Land, Laeka Zea Kemp. A girl on a small farm doesn’t like big farms. It’s pretty but I’m not seeing how plowing up desert to make a small farm is a huge win environmentally over big farms.

I Am the Subway, Kim Hyo-eun. I read this imagining my train-loving son of twenty five years ago sitting next to me. He would have loved it.

Return to the Most Beautiful Village in the World, Yutaka Kobayashi. I was not prepared for this. Neither was the kid.

Books on Slow Mode

Home Comforts, Cheryl Mendleson. I read one section a day. On to ventilation and heating! Apparently 61 degrees Fahrenheit is a good temperature for healthy adults.

50 Great Poets, ed. Milton Crane. Mail bribe. Hopkins is hard core.

The Writer's Stance: Reading and Writing in the Disciplines, Dorothy U. Seyler. Mail bribe.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James. The ending moves back to the personal.

War Cross, Marie Lu. Mail bribe. My gaming is not on this level.

Teaching With Caldecott Books, Scholastic books. Mail bribe. Good chapters about things to do after and while reading the books.

Books Acquired

I only notice when I’m caught up.

Future Plans

This is for the actual future, so weeks beyond the books in this post. It is also probably wrong.

I am reading: 

• Book I own: Fair Trade
• Library Book: Feeding the Ghosts
• Friend Book Club: Devil in Winter
• Foolscap Book Club Book:  Penric’s Demon
• Sword and Laser Club Book: Slow Gods
• Hugo Reading: The Raven Scholar
• Talbot Hill School: Series Book, war Book
• Scintillation Book Club: Half-Built Garden
• Cloudy Book Club:  The Ones We’re Meant to Find
• Torches and Pitchfork Book: Elinor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
• Romance Book Club: Award Winner
• River Runs Under It Book Club: The Demon of Unrest